Carolyn Jess-Cooke

another of the edgar award nominess. Definitely more firmly in the fantasy/horror genre than mystery a fun and well constructed story. I wish the author had spent more time on working out some of the harder to swallow details. I'm perfectly willing to acceot the supernatural basis for the story, which I won't reveal here, but that the police would release a lost child to someone in the way featured in the book is harder to swallow than witchcraft and ghosts etc. Explain it waay as some weird computer glitch or a fire where the recordws were kept or something. That is just nitpicking though, overall some enjoyable characterizations, uncomfortable but perhaps realistic family dynamics and a cautionary tale for teenage girls , the scariest thing in the book is the teen boyfriend , in my opinion… (altro)

The Ormen, a whaling ship from 1901 later outfitted as a research vessel in the 1970's and has since been washed up on the shores of Skumaskot's lonely Icelandic shore. Now, the Ormen is scheduled to be destroyed, hauled out to sea and sunk. Dominique is determined to find the Ormen and document it's last days for social media while living on the vessel and researching it's history. However, Dominique is not alone; Samara, Jens and Leo are explorers who also want to look into the history of the Ormen. Reluctantly, Dom teams up with them. Samara and Leo dig into the Ormen's history as a whaling vessel while Dom and Jen's look into the research period. In 1901, the daughter of the Ormen's owner, Nicky Duthie is attacked and brought aboard the Ormen to serve as collateral and as folklore tells, a selkie wife. Nicky's outrage at the situation knows no bounds and what is happening to her aboard the Ormen is even stranger. In the 1970's Diego Almeyda found himself not in his right mind, cutting his feet in half. When the Ormen washed up on shore, Diego's remains were the only ones found on the Ormen. The rest of the research team has disappeared. With so much mystery and tragedy surrounding the Ormen, Dom soon finds that there may be something sinister aboard the Ormen, something looking for revenge.

A Haunting in the Arctic is an absolutely immersive, atmospheric, historic, gothic mystery. I was hooked from the very beginning with Diego's experience aboard the Ormen. From there, the story focuses on the points of view of Dom, Jens, Leo and Samara exploring the wreck in present day and Nicky's experience aboard the Ormen in 1901 with snippets of the research crew in the 1970's creating suspense not knowing if the events are linked. Nicky's story drew me in with the immense trauma she underwent and how she dealt with her everyday realities of her situation and how she managed her interactions with the crew. In the present, the team is focused on getting to know one another and their separate research challenges, but there is a deeper knowledge of the Ormen between Jens, Leo and Samara. As the team stays with the Ormen longer, strange occurrences happen, dreams, sounds, and sightings that connect to their research. A Haunting in the Arctic is a surprising and haunting tale weaving folklore with the power that trauma holds over us as well as the fact that revenge doesn't always solve our problems or help us forgive and move on.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (altro)

The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read and enjoyed The Lighthouse Witches by the same author in 2022, so I was immediately interested when I saw The Ghost Woods on a Kindle deal.

This is another spooky, gothic story set in Scotland dealing again with themes of motherhood and feminism. The Ghost Woods is set in the 1960s, with parallel narratives for two different characters in 1959 and 1965 until they eventually convene. It takes place almost entirely within the grounds of Lichen Hall, a secluded old mansion which now operates as a private alternative to the “mother and baby homes.” These were the often cruel places where unmarried pregnant women were sent away in shame to give birth and have their babies adopted by a married couple.

There is a smattering of (so called) ghosts, potential monsters, premonitions, magical mushrooms and faeries but the horror is in the real world situations of the women. They go to Lichen Hall because they are rejected by society and have nowhere else. They give birth is a dingey basement, have no access to proper medical care, and they never have the choice to keep their babies. Only if they survive all of this do they get to leave, assuming they still somewhere to go.

While I think the novel is successful in exploring the vulnerability and liminal otherness of pregnancy, that isn’t why I bought this book. I wanted more supernatural weirdness, more magic and to meet the monsters in the woods! Instead those elements are sprinkled as stage dressing, and largely are unexplained and unresolved by the end. Everything gets rushed at the conclusion and blows past the why of everything. I want to know why!

Too many threads were left dangling. What were Necnevins motivations? What was going on with the fungi in the forest? What exactly happened with Wulfric plot? (If you have theories/answers please let me know in the comments!)

I ended up feeling much the same way about The Ghost Woods as I did The Lighthouse Witches – I’m left unsatisfied. The atmosphere is great, mystery and pacing is well structured, C.J. Cooke is a very talented writer but I’m ultimately not particularly interested in motherhood and I wanted more magic! Give me the witches and the faeries, and less babies!

I liked
– Spooky, gothic atmosphere.
– Fungus infested mansion makes for a creepy setting!
– Well paced, foreboding mystery that kept me interested.
– I like that it is thematically strong even if they are not subjects (motherhood) that resonates with me personally.

I didn’t like
– Not enough magic and supernatural action!
– Too much left unexplored and unresolved to be satisfying.

You can read this review and more on my blog



View all my reviews… (altro)